Silence Is Not Golden

This country is in an uproar. People are hurting. We live in a hashtag nation, and it can be dizzying when your Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of them. #SocialMedia has made our world smaller. "There is nothing new under the sun." What we are now seeing in rapid-fire succession are things that have always happened, it just took us months or years to hear about it. It is also nothing new to the poor and minorities who have lived under this level of fear for generations. ‪

But this is why the #alllivesmatter #bluelivesmatter #policelivesmatter people need to just take a seat. Of course all lives matter. That is a given. Of course they do. What these other "movements" and hashtags do is to, intentionally or not, attempt to silence the grief and outrage minorities feel when they are treated unfairly. #blacklivesmatter doesn't mean ONLY black lives matter. It means black lives ALSO matter. More importantly, it means that there is a collective sense that they feel their lives DON'T matter to the police or even to society at large. It is a call, a cry, to truly acknowledge that their lives matter TOO. In it's essence, #blacklivesmatter actually means #alllivesmatter.

You can be both ‪#‎ProPolice‬ and ‪#‎AntiPoliceMisconduct‬. You can be Pro-Police & ‪#‎ProMinority‬. You can, gasp, be #BlackLivesMatter AND #PoliceLivesMatter. These are not mutually exclusive, at least they shouldn't be.

It's time to acknowledge that #policemisconduct exists. It helps no one for police departments to close ranks and fail to acknowledge its existence. Bad apples need to be actively rooted out. Don't close ranks, open them up to scrutiny. Real change is needed, but real change only comes from the inside-out. Real change will occur only when ALL of the good officers, which I choose to believe out-number the bad apples, wake up to and acknowledge the misconduct around them and stand up to their friends, their partners, their brothers-in-arms and say "it stops with me." Only then will we see real change. I'm sorry if that means you have to report your best friend, your partner, your brother-in-arms, because if you don't report the problem, you are part of the problem.

This is the same school of thought that the Catholic church used for years to deny and cover up the pedophilia by the priesthood. This is the same school of thought that blames a woman for being raped. This has to stop.

And yes, many of these victims of violence and police misconduct had a criminal background. So what. We are SUPPOSED to have a presumption of innocence in our courts. Well, whether that truly exists or not can be debated, but you have to actually get to court alive to even enter that part of the discussion. Protecting the civil rights of the accused is exactly what protects the rights of all of us from living in a #policestate.

For the rest of us. Wake up. Stop denying that a real problem exists in our country. Hold each other accountable. Stop blaming the victims. Don't try and silence or minimize the pain experienced by those affected, even remotely, by these actions. Don't try and silence or minimize the fear experienced by people who feel they are a potential target. Peacefully protest. Start with yourself. Look inside and root out your own issues. Do this every day. 

Acknowledge. Empathize. Act.

‪#‎PrayForOurCountry‬.

Wired Coast: Is Cash Still King?

Whether for business or personal, vendor or customer, there are many options to make and receive payments. Surf on over to Wired Coast: Is Cash Still King?: How are you getting paid? We're not quite at a cashless society, but many of us no longer carry cash or even write checks, except for on...

The Modern Yard Sale, or... Is Craigslist dead?

The yard sale has evolved over the years. It still exists in its classic sense, and if you’re up for it, is still the quickest way to get rid of a large amount of your unwanted items. However, it’s a lot of work. You have to individually price each item; set a specific date; advertise – in the paper, with flyers, on social media; haul everything out; and staff the event. Kudos if you also serve refreshments, as they also increase your sales.

For apartment dwellers and those of us who are just overwhelmed with the whole concept of such an event, there are a plethora of options. There was your local paper, and maybe a pennysaver (or small town version of it) for print classifieds. Success was always hit or miss with these, and with the internet, the print versions are a dying breed. 

For internet sales, it all started with EBay. Remember when EBay was all brand new and your go-to site for getting rid of your items. You can list them, either for auction, reserve-auction (set your minimum bid), or buy-it-now. You list the item and wait for it to sell. Yes, you pay a commission, but you have a worldwide market (if you so wish to sell internationally).  You will have to deal with shipping, as it is unlikely you will connect with a local buyer.  You can charge those costs to the buyer, but you will still have to factor in your time and decide if it’s worth it to you.

Then came Craigslist. Free. Local. No commissions. Your bare-bones internet classified site. For years it became the next go-to site for just about anything to buy, sell, trade, get a job, or even a (scary) hookup. Craigslist is great, in that you can anonymize your email address, and if you’re careful enough to meet in public and perhaps use things like google voice to protect your personal phone number, can be fairly safe. Then it became riddled with scammers. Offers to pay you a substantial amount to ship the item, just send them your personal information, take a check, and wait for your account to be hacked. Or the endless offers to trade for tattoos or other things you have no desire for when all you want to do is get rid of your stuff. It’s tedious. But it’s still a good alternative in many markets, but lately not a primary one.

Kijiji, EBay’s version of Craigslist is also an interesting option, though admittedly I haven’t investigated that one. I mention it because it’s there, and if you’ve used it please feel free to comment with your experience. I may give it a shot and update this later, but for now it’s worth at least a cursory mention.

Ok, step up with Facebook, which has numerous, to say the least, online yard sale groups. You post in the group and everyone sees your posts. There are SO.MANY.GROUPS. The private groups are closed or secret, the public groups still require you to be accepted, but it’s a fairly simple process. It started out with your basic posts, and new items will show up in your news feed and you comment and private message the seller to purchase. They’ve included a “selling” feature now in these groups, ostensibly to make things easier. Whichever option you use (“for sale” or general posting), members will comment or message you to purchase. This is a decent feature as you have a basic idea of who you are dealing with. Most of them are community based, so you may even recognize your neighbor. You can also screen-shot their profile page and send it to a friend before meeting with someone (just in case).

The response rate on the Facebook groups was very good when they first started out, and in some markets it still can be. Facebooks newest acquisition, Instagram, has been a budding venue for private sales and boutique shops. It’s still in it’s infancy for this type of thing, but if you have a lot of local followers, you can certainly post your items and people can respond. I’ve sold a few items that way, but my followers are not primarily local, your mileage may vary.

But enter now the apps. Close5, Wallapop, OfferUp just to name a few. With these apps you will post directly and most of them have options to enter private conversations so that your meet-up location or contact information is kept private between buyer and seller. They are location-based, so you can post and search within a defined radius of your current location. Often the search feature is limited to your current location and the pre-determined radius you search (generally 5-20 miles), but I’ve noticed a new feature that you can post either your current location, or enter a different one, when setting up your post. That’s convenient if, for some reason, you decide to post something when you’re out on vacation or just out of your neighborhood. They offer good search features for buyers, simple posting features for sellers, and instant notifications so that your buyer’s messages don’t get lost in your spam trap (a la Craigslist anonymized emails) or that mysterious “others” folder (Facebook). The notifications aren’t perfect, so check the app periodically as one might be there and you didn’t get the visual or audio prompt. The posting is simple and straightforward. You can literally post an item as fast as you can take a picture. Easy-peasy.

My personal experience is that these new apps offer faster responses and I’ve, quite frankly, made far more sales through the apps than the Facebook or Craigslist posts. Be prepared to haggle though, some apps, I’ve noticed, have a higher propensity for hagglers than others. Now this could be location-based as well. I will have to update this after my move. And the scammers are entering the apps as well. I’ve already encountered one on Wallapop, though so far that’s the only one.

I have bought and sold many items on EBay, Craigslist and Facebook groups. My experience has been varied, but generally quite pleasant. I’ve never had a difficulty, and for the longest while, items sold fairly rapidly. After noticing a significant slow down of responses, I downloaded Close5 a few months ago and I had a sale in the first 5 minutes. No kidding. And they picked it up within the hour. Most of my items have sold through Close5 recently, though I keep the postings live on all of the above-mentioned sites (except EBay, I’m taking a break from them for now).

I recently downloaded Wallapop, and had offers the first day. Insulting low-ball offers, but offers nonetheless. Oh, and that scammer. So far, Wallapop is a nice app, but in my current market, I’ve only received a bunch of really low-ball offers (less than half the price I’ve posted it). Now I post my items a little high because I know I will get offers for less, and everyone wants a bargain so if I come down a bit, we’re both happy. But offers of $15 for a $50 item – yeah right.

OfferUp is my latest download, and within the first hour I had 2 sales pending pickup. The offers came it a bit low, but not as insulting as the Wallapop offers, so I accepted.

Now my current order of preference for resale is this:

Close5 – Simple, easy to use, up to 4 photos per item, good response rate. It’s #1 for me because of the response rate, not the specific app features. Reason is, you can’t enter private conversation mode until after you’ve accepted the offer – and then your item is off-market, so if it falls though you have to re-list. Re-listing is a one-click procedure, but you may have lost a potential sale dealing with someone who flaked on you. Also, editing your post is sketchy. You can edit the text at any time, but you can’t edit photos – you’re stuck with whatever you put up. All comments are public, and you can’t delete them once you’ve hit ‘send’.

OfferUp – Simple, easy to use, only one photo per item, conversations are private, accepting an offer doesn’t take your item off-line. You can have multiple private conversations on a single item. Nice ka-ching sound when you have a message. Once an offer is made, it shows up with the picture of the best offer (visible, I believe, only to you), so you can still keep it listed as you ponder your offers. You can also use the web version, this one I've noticed has a fully functional web interface, while the others are app-centric.

Wallapop - Simple, easy to use, up to 4 photos per item. Editing your post is simple, and you can edit either the photos or the text. Biggest complaint I have at the moment is the low-ballers and scammers. The jury is still out on this one, but I’m still using it for now.

Facebook Groups – Facebook is flooded with these, and their algorithms are ever-changing, so sometimes you see things and sometimes you don’t. It’s still a good place to cross-post your items, but I wouldn’t count on it to sell items quickly.

Craigslist – Oh Craigslist, still the go-to for many people, especially in large markets. If you’re in a small town you will have difficulty finding buyers and sellers. Many will post in the one for the nearest metro center, and if you’re in between a few, you’ll have to go ahead and post in a few of them. #smalltownproblems. Just keep checking your spam folder.

For all of these: Meet in a public place (hard to do with large items, but you get the idea). Preferably meet during daytime hours. Never give out your personal information. Consider getting a google voice number or some other private phone number for texting/calling.

Employee vs Business Owner Mentality

Employee or Business Owner - Which are you?

Honestly, the vast majority of us fall somewhere in between, but there is a distinct difference. In our entrepreneurial society, many people want to own their own business, but do they truly have the mentality for it? If you do, you have that mentality whether you are working for yourself or working for someone else. I hear it said all the time, "it would be different if it were my own business." I doubt that.

Here are some classic traits of an Employee Mentality:

• I work for a paycheck - period.
• I do not give more than I have to, otherwise the company will take advantage of me.
• They are lucky to have me.
• They owe me because I work here; because they need me; because I'm better qualified; because, because, because, because, because...
• I only do what is in my job description.
• I only work the hours assigned. I will work overtime only when it suits me (and when I need the extra money).
• I do not like change. We've always done (or we tried that before) and there's no reason to change.

Now look at the traits of a Business Owner Mentality

• I work for the good of the business.
• I give everything I have in order to grow the company.
• I am lucky to have this opportunity.
• I only receive the benefits of my effort, if I want more I have to work for it.
• I do what is needed, regardless of my job description.
• I work the hours necessary to complete the task, even if the overtime is an inconvenience.
• I am open to change. I think outside the box and consider all options, whether we've tried it before or not, traditional or not, I am always looking to improve. 

Now, we all want and need our paycheck, and we are all working for that but for the employee, that is where it begins and ends. For the business owner, the money is the reward, not the substance. It is the end result of countless hours of effort, often uncompensated effort.

Are you willing to do what it takes to grow your business? Great! 

Are you still working for someone else? Hone those skills where you are, because if you're going to start your own business, it's better to take those fully developed skills into your new venture rather than try and flex those weak muscles when you branch out on your own.

Never plan to have your own business? Have an "Owner" mentality anyway, you will be the most valued employee in the company. Rewards follow. 

New Balance 1080v3 Review

So, I waited until I retired these to do a review.  This isn't a comprehensive review, but it does cover my overall impressions and comparisons about this particular shoe.

I keep trying to have a couple of different brands in my rotation, and New Balance is, mostly, US made so I was feeling very patriotic and bought these on my last trip to Roadrunner Sports. I also have another pair of New Balance 1400s in my rotation, more on those another time.

First off, on the my initial treadmill run at the store I noticed that the shoe had great cushioning, comparable to what I expect from my Brooks Glycerin, and even better than I experienced with the Asics Gel Nimbus 13, at first blush that is.  I really need the cushioning as I primarily run on pavement, so my shoes take quite a bit of abuse and without significant cushioning, so would my joints.

I have been running in my Brooks Glycerin 9s for some time now, and they have been my absolute favorites, easily beating out Nike & Asics.

These shoes have decent ventilation, and remain comfortable throughout my regular 3-5 mile runs.  I didn't use them for anything longer. The mesh upper breathes well, though not as well as Brooks, but still it's fine.

They also have a decent heel drop, which is important for me as it helps with my arch support and weak ankles.  Not too high, but just enough for the support I need.

On the treadmill, they were amazing and the midsole was both comfortably cushioned and responsive. On pavement, well, a bit less so, but the cushioning was great and absorbed a good amount of the shock from running on pavement.

No heel slippage for me on these, so no need for the runner's knot I had to use for my Asics. A small thing, but a welcome change. The laces are a bit long, so that does require a double know just to keep from tripping over them down the road.

The insole is comfortable enough and the shoe is sufficiently supportive that I can run with or without my orthotics for the first few miles, but that required a change later on.

Honestly I really wanted to love these shoes. I love the company's commitment to domestic products and I like a lot of things about them. However, they just don't stand up to my mileage test.

For the first 200 miles, they were just great! The cushioning remained strong and I had no complaints.   From 200-300 miles, things started to slowly feel different. The cushioning was there, but not great. As an older runner, who primarily runs on pavement, I tend to notice this fairly quickly. Still, they held up well all the way to 300 miles. That said, in a neutral plus shoe, I have a commitment to getting 500 miles...I'm determined that way.

At 350 miles I had to make some changes, and replaced out my orthotics with the standard insole, which honestly made a difference for the next 50 or so miles. I added a sports gel insert to ride above that to get from 400-500 miles. I was committed to getting the 500 miles, and it can be done, I just had to be a bit more creative.

Honestly, 500 miles is hard for any shoe, especially if you primarily run on concrete.  Still, I can get there easier with Brooks than any other shoe I've tried so far.

When all is said and done, The New Balance 1080v3 is a fine shoe. The cushioning and support is good, and it holds up just fine all the way to 350 miles. After that, if you have a commitment to getting up to 500 miles, you will need to be creative about it. All in all I like them better than Asics (even though I got to 400 before having to get creative with them) but not better than Brooks.

Can't wait to test out the Glycerin 11s and , oh I don't know, maybe some Saucony or Newtons on the next round...

Rebranding Progress

Thanks everyone for sticking with us during this rebranding process! Wired Coast, and you can read about it here, will now have it's own blog and this one will return to our original focus that involves Micro-Enterprise Support, Legal, Non-Profits, and Health & Fitness. Wow, that's more than enough for one little blog!

To help you navigate, this main page will have all of your Health & Fitness related posts, as well as wonderful posts from some of our guest authors!

The pages listed include our Non Profit Division and Legal Division. You will find specific posts related to those divisions over there. Micro-Enterprise will be featured here until it needs it's own page.

Thanks again for all your patience as we continue to grow!

New Directions

From these last few posts, you can see I'm slowly rolling out my latest venture, Wired Coast.

Wired Coast offers unique upcycled and repurposed items, starting with jewelry, that includes wire wrapped beach stones, wire wrapped seashells, wine cork jewelry, and uniquely fabulous creations from Nespresso capsules.

Products are rolled out slowly, and will be announced on our social media sites prior to being listed on Etsy. You can shop the Etsy site from the sidebar or the link below. Additional products are rolled out on the Square Store (link below) as well.

Like Wired Coast on Facebook for updates and contests.
Check out Instagram for a like & share contest to win a free wine cork keychain.
Get real-time updates on new product listings on Twitter
Surf around the always fabulous Pinterest for listings and a peek into what inspires me
Check out our ever-developing Website & sign up for our newsletter for exclusive specials & coupon codes.
Go see items exclusive to the Square Store, which also includes inventory close out and resale items.
And of course, our main storefront is right here on Etsy

Consulting Services and Micro-Enterprise support are still offered over at Partnership for Change, and please contact me there for consulting services or partnership opportunities.